Paper short abstract:

The presentation is focused on the analyses of social, economic and emotional linkages which Lithuanian immigrants accumulate in the new societies and on explanations they used to give for feeling or not feeling themselves as part of the new community. being at home or far away from home.

Paper long abstract:

The presentation is based on findings of the national research project on migration, started in 2009. The research is focused on the analyses of social, economic and emotional linkages which immigrants accumulate in the new societies and on explanations they used to give for feeling or not feeling themselves as being part of the new community. The case of Lithuanian immigrants suggests that for some of them incorporation may begin with crossing the border however it never ends. Those immigrants use to claim that they are never going to accumulate enough linkages of incorporation to allow them to become full member of the society in large. They reject the notion of home as a place where they live. Home is their past and connection to it, it is memory, origins, continuity.Nevertheless the majority of immigrants feel themselves as part of the new society. Their sense of being a part of community is related to how well they overcome feelings of alienation, develop network of friends, acquire local cultural knowledge and how they learn to navigate in the society. Other immigrants, motivating their feeling of being part of the society stressed the importance of family ties. As this paper suggests, the majority of immigrants, by choosing particular linkages to the new society draw on certain pathways of incorporation to it and use diverse motivations of considering themselves as part of it.